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In the words of a soldier whos name of witch I do not know.

"Based upon the jeers and boos concerning Dr. Paul's message of the golden rule EVEN when it comes to foreign nations who may or may not be our enemies, it is clear to me as a combat veteran that a great number of the American people are completely out of touch with the reality of the COST and TRUE SACRIFICE of these unconstitutional wars. I propose a simple question. Does the American public genuinely appreciate Service Sacrifices?

In the humble opinion of this soldier, in one word, no. Despite ten years of continual conflict (now going on eleven), the American people apparently are divorced from reality when it comes to those of us in uniform. The familiar cliches: "Thank you for your service" and "Support our Troops", are nice gestures but they mask a much larger problem. There is a huge disconnection between us the defenders and them the defended.

To illustrate my point, a recent survey released by the the Pew Research Center proves this beyond a shadow of a doubt. What was found is that 75% of Americans believe it is not unfair for the armed forces to assume virtually all of the burden of combating terrorism around the world, (thus taking upon ourselves the true cost and sacrifices therin). After all its "just part of being in the military". This is what those polled said! In other words, the public is perfectly content to let less than 1% of the American population to carry the full responsibility for the safety of the other 99%. As I like to put it, we have given you the right to go about your happy life oblivious to reality and to not give a F***. Please excuse my profanity but I only use it drive my point home.

Members of the military have been aware of this sentiment for a while. Now we have hard evidence. The vast majority of recent war veterans, 84% to be exact, believe the American people have no idea what they or their families cope with during multiple overseas deployments during an era of perpetual war. They don't. Again, unless you live the life we do, you have no freaking clue.

This is why I believe that an all-volunteer force is not necessarily a good thing. If these war-mongers are so ready to go into Iran or Syria or some other muslim country on the false pretenses that they are preserving OUR freedom or defending THIS country then by all means, go sign up or send your sons and daughters to do so. Your bloodlust and beats of your war drums will soon be extinguished in the reality that is the hell that we call war. Imagine if it is YOUR son, YOUR daughter, YOUR father, YOUR mother, who comes home in a casket because some "terrorist" was defending his home and his family from foreign invaders. This is the sad reality, we create more enemies than we can kill. The longer we occupy another country, the more hostile the people who we are there to "help" become.

I often think, what if the draft were to be reinstated? What if over 90% of American families had a loved one who was now serving? What if all these media pundits had a family member in the service? What if the other candidates had actually served? What if one of Mitt Romney's sons had been killed in one of these wars? How long would it take until everyone was saying, is it all worth it? How long would it take for the outcry to end the wars to become so deafening, the beats of the war drums would cease.

Take it from me, these wars were not about freedom. They were not about promoting democracy. They were not about fighting terrorists. They were not about defending this country. The war profiteers with their lucrative government contracts have made MILLIONS while we the lowly soldiers, sailors, airmen and their FAMILIES shoulder the true cost and sacrifices of death, divorce, broken homes, separation, body mangling injuries, PTSD, orphaned kids, suicides, the list goes on and on. These criminals have blood on their hands.

Dr. Paul is right. We need to take a step back and re-evaluate the cost and consequences of our foreign policy. The American people need to re-evaluate their preconceptions concerning our enemies. We need to listen to what our veterans are saying, and ask the tough questions. If we do not, we are doomed to repeat history and follow in the same footsteps as Rome and the Soviet Union. "